Moving sps colonies

[Mbodell]

What is the best way to move a lot of decent sized sps colonies? I was thinking of using a lot of buckets but I want to preserve the integrity of the corals as best as possible. What does everyone else do?

 

[9supratt4]

Move them from where to where?? If it's a simple move in the house from tank to tank....buckets will work. If it's a move from say....house to house, I'd get big rubbermaid bins, put them in there and support them with other rocks...then I'd drive really slow!!

 

[Mbodell]

2 hr drive. I was thinking of using balloons, would they hurt the corals.

 

[9supratt4]

Balloons?? Interesting idea!! So you would use the ballons as support?

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

I think balloons would pop to easily. How do they ship colonies< They don't kust grow at our LFS's? Your balloon idea made me think of those air bags that things are shipped in, but I just threw a bunch away. Bubble wrap the baserock maybe to prevent them from rollong over and still allow water flow?

Taz

 

[Mbodell]

I was worried about bubble wrap being dirty or the plastic contaminating the water. I figured that balloons would be safe. I was thinking of not filling the balloons up and using a lot in the bucket.

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

Frag bags of air? LOL

 

[9supratt4]

This is a tough one....I'd think big containers, with the colonies, surrounded by...foam maybe??

 

[Mbodell]

I know, I am stuck. Balloons around them in buckets is the best idea I had. The other option is to chisel them off of the rocks. Should I move them in Styrofoam coolers out of water?

 

[9supratt4]

I'd think the ballons would pop.

I would leave them on the rocks...then you can fill in all the spaces with other rocks to stop them from moving around in the container.

Were you going to run a pump and heaters while driving?

 

[Mbodell]

no pump or heaters. If I keep the car at 72 degrees or so the water temp won't drop more than a degree or so during the drive, especially if I wrap the buckets in blankets. I don't think the balloons would pop. When you only fill them with a little air they can be pretty resilient.

 

[AqOb]

most colonies are rubberbanded to styrofoam at their base so they would float

 

[9supratt4]

most colonies are rubberbanded to styrofoam at their base so they would float

So float them upside down in a deep container?

 

[ReeferNets]

yep AQOB is right, ive gotten a few colonies shipped like that. It ensures that they never ar out of water.

 

[Mbodell]

huh, what do I do if there are multiple colonies on the live rock.

 

[mnat]

huh, what do I do if there are multiple colonies on the live rock.

REALLY big piece of styrofoam.

 

[Mbodell]

gee thanks for the help mike :

 

[Hawkeye]

is there a LFS nearby you could go to? I would think when they receive colony shipments they discard all that stuff used to ship the items safely. Maybe you could get that.

 

[mnat]

I will be stopping in Trop tonight, I will ask them what is the best way. They get all their shipments in big styrofoam coolers, will find out how they are packed. It looks like they just throw them away afterwards, because they can get like 30 of them at a time.

 

[mnat]

So I finally made it up to Trop and talked to them about how they recieve/ship large SPS colonies attatched to live rock. He said the best way would be to cut the colony off of the live rock and float it that way and reattach the colonies later on. Pros: Easier to move, you can setup your LR in your new location without having to essentially create a jigsaw puzzle to have those pieces of live rock in the same positions. Cons: Disturbing your colonies. Solution 2: Get pieces of styrofoam and cut it to fit around the colonies in a cooler (or whatever you are using to move). Pros: cheap and easy. Cons: May not save the colony from getting knocked around. Solution 3: Get that green stuff that people stick flowers in and pack the box with that. Pros: Absorbs water and can be essentially housed around your corals for almost no motion. Cons: Apperently very expensive. Solution 4: Bags of water to keep the coral in place. Pros: Airbags Cons: probably not going to save them from being completely banged up.

His overall point is that if you try and keep it on the liverock, chances are you are going to break the colony anyway. He was pretty adament about cutting the colonies off and remounting them in the new tank. This way you can do your aquascaping to your liking and you can move them around much easier (attached to styrofoam upside down in a bag of water). Good luck.